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Notes from the President
Happy fall, fellow FLAP-pers! It’s my favorite time of year. I look forward to pumpkin spice fla-
vored…everything, cool and crisp days, and the foliage!
I hope everyone had a wonderful and restful summer!
Thanks to the volunteers who came out for both Raiders of the Lost Trash cleanups in July and
August. Between the two events we collected 20 bags of trash!
We will be joining the other Friends groups of the Accotink Watershed for International Coastal
Cleanup Day on September 19th. We will be taking the canoes out on the lake and walking up Flag
Run. Meet us at the boathouse at the marina at 9am.
Please be sure to “like” our Facebook page to stay updated on FLAP events.!
-Meghan
One load of trash collected during the Raiders of the Lost Trash event in August
Friends of Lake Accotink Park September 2015
Website: www.accotink.org/FLAP
Facebook: www.facebook.com/
friendsoflakeaccotinkpark
Email: [email protected]
President’s Letter 1
Upcoming Events 1
Parks Usage Study Update
2
VA DEQ TMDL Study Update
2
Butterfly Garden Project Request
2
Fishing Line Recy-
cling at Lake Ac-
cotink
3
Letter From a Trail
Volunteer
4
Inside this issue:
UPCOMING FLAP EVENTSSpecial points of interest:
Accotink Watershed
Cleanup September
19th, 9 am at the
marina
Next FLAP meeting:
October 22nd at the
Richard Byrd Library,
7:30 pm
OctoberFest at Lake
Accotink: October
24th. Volunteers
needed for face
painting/pumpkin
painting.
Just some of the volunteers who came
out for our August Raiders of the
Lost Trash expedition!
2
Fairfax County Park Authority Needs Assessment Update
The Fairfax County Park Authority Board recently released the results of the needs assessment surveys that were sent out to Fairfax
County residents last year. The survey results revealed that an average of 87% of Fairfax County residents have visited a park in the
past year. Of those visitors, 29% describe the physical condition of the parks as “excellent” and 62% rated the physical condition
“very good”. Respondents selected preserving open spaces and renovating/paving walking trails as the two most important ways that
they want their tax dollars spent in the Park Authority system.
This is very important information for the Lake Accotink Master Plan as it tells us how Fairfax County residents use parks and what
they will expect of parks facilities and services both now and in the future. The full presentation can be found here.
Friends of Lake Accotink Park September 2015
Website: www.accotink.org/FLAP
Facebook: www.facebook.com/
friendsoflakeaccotinkpark
Email: [email protected]
We need a project manager to turn this patch of weeds into a butterfly garden. FLAP has designated funds and volunteers, all we
need is someone to spearhead the project. If you are interested, email Meghan at [email protected]
Project Manager Needed: Butterfly Garden
VA DEQ Accotink Benthic TMDL Study Update
The VA DEQ is in the middle of a multi-year study of the water quality of the Accotink Watershed. In July they published an update
to identify the stressors impacting the health of the watershed. Accotink Creek has been identified as suffering from “Urban Stream
Syndrome”, meaning that the watershed suffers from flashier flows, elevated nutrient/contaminant concentrations, less biodiversity,
and altered channel morphology. The most probable stressors on the watershed have been identified as chlorides (primarily present
during February and March), sediment (both deposited sediment on the creek bed and suspended sediment in the water), habitat
modification, and hydro modification (through flash flooding that is causing creek bank erosion).
The next step in the study process is to develop a TMDL recommendation for chlorides and sediment. The habitat and hydro modi-
fications will need to be addressed by alternative means. The full presentation can be found here.
3
Fishing Line Recycling Installed at Lake Accotink
Lake Accotink Park joins Riverbend Park, Ellanor C. Lawrence Park, Lake Fairfax, and Burke Lake with the installation of
monofilament recycling bins at four popular fishing spots around our lake. This recycling effort is the Eagle Scout Project of local
Troop 1145’s Miles Johnson. Miles worked with park manger Julie Tahan to locate the bins.
Fishermen and boaters are encouraged to deposit used monofilament fishing line into the PVC bins.
These lines can entangle aquatic animals and birds, causing severe injury or even death. Discarded line
also can wrap around propellers, causing them to seize up and then damaging the motors. Line can
enter bilge pumps, water intake valves, or wrap around the lower unit causing damage. Recycling used
line is a simple step anglers can take toward stewardship of natural resources.
Anglers and boaters wishing to recycle fishing line should remove any hooks or sinkers from the used line before depositing it into
the containers. For the safety of FLAP and other volunteers collecting the fishing line for recycling, no trash should be deposited into
the well-marked containers. Volunteers will help monitor and empty the recycling containers. The used monofilament line will be
collected and shipped to Pure Fishing America: Berkley. Properly disposed fishing line can be recycled and turned into useful prod-
ucts such as tackle boxes, fishing line spools, and other fishing products. Berkley’s recycling program has already recycled more than 9
million miles of fishing line.
Friends of Lake Accotink Park September 2015
Website: www.accotink.org/FLAP
Facebook: www.facebook.com/
friendsoflakeaccotinkpark
Email: [email protected]
Propeller entangled with fishing line
4
My Year Off and Back On The Trail
By DAVE GIBSON
Last year, for the first time in my life, I was afraid – afraid I would be housebound or, worse, crippled. I had pain in my left leg and hip
so bad that I couldn’t sleep. I couldn’t walk 50 yards without stopping to sit and recover. I definitely could not continue doing trail
watch at Lake Accotink Park, which had enabled me stay active and enjoy close-to-home nature since retiring from crunching numbers at
a media research company.
It took several weeks and three doctors to get a diagnosis of lumbar stenosis and three more to get an appointment with a spine special-
ist. Meanwhile, the only sleep I could get came when I practically passed out from pain and exhaustion.
The spine doctor said the condition looked stable; I wouldn’t be crippled. He sent me for physical therapy, and I pessimistically signed
up with one of INOVA’s PT units, wondering whether I was eventually headed for surgery. I told them my goal was to be able to walk
the Lake’s 3.8-mile loop without pain; they said, essentially, “No promises.”
After two weeks of exercises and stretches, I began to sleep through the night. In another two, the pain had diminished significantly,
and I was on my way to walking longer distances. Trail watch started to seem possible. My wife began taking me mall-walking at Fair
Oaks and Tysons Corner. In six weeks I was nearly pain-free, and the spine doctor told me to keep on walking. So I did. After nearly
six months off the trail, I managed to walk the loop, again taking pictures of wildlife, graffiti, trail-conditions for reports to the park su-
pervisor. I had met my goal.
I have enjoyed the loop since 1980 when I still had good enough knees to jog around it. I even ran a few 10-K races out of Wakefield
Park. After I retired, I saw a flyer recruiting for Trail Watch, and I signed up to be a volunteer trail monitor. I also took Fairfax Master
Naturalist training and have done my service hours primarily on the trail. I love meeting people who want to talk about the lake or need
directions through Danbury Forest to keep to the trail. And I occasionally scold dog walkers who believe they have their pets under
“voice command.” And I compliment some of the many who observe the leash laws.
Although I spend most of my time on the main loop, I enjoy occasional forays down the CCT trail along Accotink Creek to the south of
the dam and the labyrinth of “bike trails” on the Springfield side running near the railroad tracks. Springtime on those “upland” trails
offers the best look at native plants above the flood plain, away from the invasive plants like Asian stilt grass and lesser celandine that
carpet the CCT on the way to Wakefield Park.
Once I got a chance to do some detective work when park supervisor Julie Tahan asked me to locate some reported graffiti defacing trees
near the tracks. It took two trips out to find the spray-painted marks, but I photographed the site and the graffiti and put the pictures on
a flash drive for follow-up by park staff and a report to the police.
Trail Watch keeps me alive in several ways. I feel I am doing something worthwhile; I get to attempt some wildlife photography; and I
often have interesting conversations. Occasionally I get to chat with teachers who bring their students to the park to observe its geologi-
cal processes, streams and wildlife. After my back troubles, I am grateful for all that trail monitoring gives me.
I hope I can keep doing it for a long time to come.
Friends of Lake Accotink Park September 2015
Website: www.accotink.org/FLAP
Facebook: www.facebook.com/
friendsoflakeaccotinkpark
Email: [email protected]
Trail volunteers like Dave assist
the Park Authority in monitoring
the condition of the parks. Here’s
just one example of the type of
information reported to the Park
Authority by volunteers
